Kitchen Tasting Group Tribute to Brad England
La Belle Vie
Tasted Tuesday, July 31, 2007 by Dave Dalluge with 1,137 views
Introduction
The idea for this event was simple -- to put together a wine dinner as a Thank You to Brad England for all his generosity over the last few years (I'm sure Brad has been generous for more than two years, but I can only attest to the last two years). Steve and I came up with the idea after a dinner with Brad in which he opened a 1955 Burgundy, 1980 DRC GE, and 1988 La Landonne. When floated to the rest of the group they attacked the idea with zeal. In attendance were Steve Sigmond, Chris Larson, Jeff Samuelson, Brad England, Scott Manlin, and myself.
Our intent was to keep Brad in the dark as to as many details as possible. Unfortunately one of the conspiritors has loose lips. By this slip Brad was able to discern that the dinner would be at La Belle Vie and that Scott Manlin would be flying in for the event. Luckily we managed to keep the details of the wines a secret (fourteen bottles of DRC) until after we arrived at dinner. This lead to a very funny moment in the limo ride to the restaurant. Brad was talking excitedly about his recent acquisition of fourteen bottles of DRC from the 80s and 90s. Steve took advantage of this moment to ask Brad when he would ever drink fourteen bottles of DRC. The rest of us laughed quietly to ourselves, and Brad failed to catch the connection. We drank three bottles of champagne in the limo on the way to dinner. I'll post the notes on these separately.
We double decanted all of the wines starting at 3:30. Dinner started around 6:30 and finished around 10:30. Lorin Zinter, the sommelier at La Belle Vie, did a flawless job of serving the wines. This was probably the best wine service I have ever had at a restaurant. We had pre-arranged for Lorin to pour a glass for himself from each bottle as they were served. He is a big fan of Burgundy, and offered his opinions on each of the flights. The restaurant also prepared a signed copy of the tasting menu and a copy of the wines served (which was signed by the members of the Kitchen Tasting Group) as momentos.
Chef Tim McKee was given the wine list in advance and did a spectacular job of creating dishes to compliment the wines.
Flight 1 - Champagne (2 Notes)
Served with gougeres and an amuse bouche. I don't have the complete description of the amuse, but it was a zuchini blossem in tempura batter with a thick slice of truffle and a garlic cream sauce. It was awesome and paired splendidly with both champagnes. Jeff asked if we could just get some large plates of these instead of the rest of the tasting menu, but that wasn't possible.
I appear to have very odd taste in champagne. Certain champagnes have what I describe as a strong mineral streak through the mid-palate that I really can't appreciate. Others seem to like them just fine. Not sure what to make of this. I may just need to drink more champagne to better understand this.
Flight 2 - Grand Echezeaux #1 (3 Notes)
Served with an inspired dish of spring lamb carpaccio with roasted garlic-mint vinaigrette and fava beans. Really great dish and a great pairing. Sadly, it was difficult to concentrate on the food, the wine, and the conversations, and on this night the food lost out to some extent. It's a shame because this food is so good it really deserves more attention than I was able to give it.
Unanimous choice for WOTF was the 2000 Grand Echezeaux.
Flight 3 - Grand Echezeaux #2 (3 Notes)
Served with grilled poissin with sweet corn, veal sweetbreads and chanterelle mushrooms. An excellent pairing. I wonder how you pack this much flavor into a tiny little chanterelle mushroom?
WOTF was split. I favored the 1988. Others seemed to favor the 1996.
Flight 4 - Romanee St. Vivant (3 Notes)
Served with moulard duck breast with morel mushrooms and cured foie gras -- a divine dish. This paired will with the on good bottle of Romanee St. Vivant. The off bottles also let us catch up on the wines from the previous two flights. During this flight a couple was seated behind us and the woman pointed at our glasses and made a comment to the man she was with. Scott calmly explained to them that it was an AA meeting. Very funny.
Unanimous choice for WOTF was the 1988 Romanee St. Vivant
Flight 5 - Richebourg (3 Notes)
Served with roated squab with foie gras and shell pea caramelle. The peas were incredibly fresh and the foie and squab paired very well with the Richebourgs.
I believe the 2000 Richebourg was a unanimous choice for WOTF, but I could be wrong about that. I don't remember voting.
Flight 6 - La Tache (2 Notes)
Served with roasted lamb ribeye with coriander, mint and spring vegetable ragout. Another exceptional My compliments to the chef Tim McKee. All of the courses were really well conceived and well executed dishes. This is one of the best meals I've ever had in Minneapols. I'd even say it tops 112 Eatery.
Once again, I believe the 2000 La Tache was a unanimous choice for WOTF, but I don't think we voted.
Flight 7 - d'Yquem (1 Note)
Served with a peach/polenta renversee, peach ice cream, and roasted corn brown butter sauce -- one of the most interesting desserts I've had in a long time. I thought it paired pretty well with the d'Yquem.
Closing
After dinner we ended up taking the limo back to Brad's. Now that dinner was over the ban on opening bottles was lifted and he opened a couple of final bottles -- a 1995 Rayas and a 1989 La Conseillant. I'll post comments on these wines separately. Needless to say these wines took us in a whole new direction after all the DRC.
Reflections on DRC. I've described before why the wines of DRC are special to me. Aside from the emotional appeal, though, the wines are truly amazing. The homgeneity of this line-up was very impressive. The wines have a lot more in common than differences despite the large variance in age, vineyard, and vintage quality. On this night I didn't describe the color of the wines, but I found them all to be very similar -- light ruby red with what I would call muddy hues. Young or old they shifted a bit, but less than one would expect. They are elegant and understated wines. If poured blind in a large tasting they might end up completely lost because of their subtlety. If you come to them with your full attention they just give you more and more. The nose is almost always exotic and evolving. The balance is almost always perfect. The feel on the palate is almost always silky smooth and caressing. It's too bad they're so damn expensive, because these are wines a person would want to drink on a regular basis.
Thanks to Brad and the Kitchen Tasting Group for making this a night to remember.
1996 Veuve Clicquot Champagne Brut La Grande Dame
France, Champagne
Aromas of toast, mineral, and bright citrus fruit are very appealing. There is a slight oxidative note. The taste is packed with flavor. The mouthfeel is not as elegant as the Pol Roger. There's plenty of fruit, but it just seemed a little clunky by mid-palate. Good balance with plenty of acidity. The finish is very nice. A great champagne to start the night.
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1996 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill
France, Champagne
The nose gives a very expressive blend of bread dough, orchard fruit (apple, pear), and toasted nuts/marzipan. These carry through to the taste and become a bit more citrusy. The mouthfeel is spectacular. The wine feels so light yet carries so much flavor -- probably a function of the ripe fruit, perfect balance and the exquisite bubbles. The full flavor is present from the attack through the long, lingering finish. This is a champagne I could learn to love.
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